May 9, 2008
Final Stats
Texas A&M International University and St. Mary's split a Heartland Conference doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Veterans Field. StMU cruised to a 10-2 win the opener before TAMIU earned a come-from-behind 5-4 win in the second game.
St. Mary's second baseman Colin Stock hit a two-out three-run home run in the first inning of the opener to lift his team to a 4-0 lead. The Rattlers led 6-0 after three innings and TAMIU did not score its two runs until the bottom of the seventh.
Paul Routos (2-5) took the loss for the Dustdevils after allowing nine runs in a 6.0 inning outing.
TAMIU (19-35, 17-30 Heartland) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second game behind the pitching of Daniel López and the power of Danny Cornejo. López allowed no hits with one hit batter through four innings and Cornejo hit a solo home run in the second inning and a two-run blast in the fourth inning.
St. Mary's (37-17, 33-14 Heartland) sent nine batters to the plate in the top of the fifth inning, scoring four runs on six hits to take a 4-3 lead. TAMIU would answer with two runs in the bottom of that frame to retake the lead.
Jason Bonugli lead off the fifth with a walk before being sacrificed to second by Tanner Eells. Arek Zambanini then struck out swinging before Ryan Flynn delivered a game-tying RBI single to right field.
Cornejo then hit a long single to left field that advance Flynn to third base. Cornejo continued to second after his single and appeared to be hung up to be tagged out but the Rattler second baseman misplayed the relay toss, allowing Flynn to score the go-ahead run and Cornejo to slide safely into the bag.
Cornejo finished the game 3-for-3 with three RBI while Flynn was 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Roger González (5-3) picked up the win in a relief role. He allowed no runs on two hits with three strikeouts and no walks in a 2.2 inning outing. Rattler ace Scott Shimek (11-1) was tagged with his first loss of the season.
St. Mary's designated hitter Ryan Morrow led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to deep center but González got out of the jam with a strikeout, ground ball to first and fly ball to left field.
TAMIU and St. Mary's will close-out the season with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for noon at Veterans Field.
